Ghana’s banks will begin charging value-added taxes on some services excluding loans by the end of March 2014.
This decision has been announced by Daniel Mensah, executive officer at Ghana Association of Bankers Chief Executive, which is currently in talks with the ministry of finance, Bank of Ghana and the country’s revenue agency.
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Mensah said: "It’s going to make the cost of people getting financial services more expensive.
"The areas they initially outlined for the tax to apply was virtually everything, that’s why we are meeting with them to clarify and to agree".
Mensah also added that the levy will not be placed on lending and that the VAT on bank services will be 15%.
Ghanaian finance minister Seth Terkper raised the VAT on goods and services to 15% from 12.5% in 2013.
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By GlobalDataThe aim of this VAT’s increase was the one of boosting revenue, after the fall of gold and cocoa prices and the rise of government wages.
Terkper acknowledged in November 2013 that Ghana would have overshot its 9% deficit target at the end of last year.
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